Eskimimi Knits knitting blog

the Eskimimi Knits blog has been a little bit quiet these last few days as I have been industriously experimenting, working and constructing various tools, so I can bring you this:

Eskimimi Knits yarn

I want to thank everyone who posted words of encouragement and support at giving dyeing a go.  I have worked hard this past week to develop techniques and practices that help me to make the kind of yarns I’d like to be able to buy.

 I have been skeining, winding, dyeing, mixing, heating and designing all hours of the day and night and was up until past midnight last night putting the finishing touches to the yarn, adding ball-bands, etc.  Now that everything has been photographed, checked and re-checked a million times or more, I’m slightly giddy to present to you my little shop

Eskimimi Knits yarn shop (click to visit)

I’ve been trying out all sorts of colours, mixing and blending, dyeing and handpainting, and I am really very pleased with my resulting yarns. I have managed to get the level of saturation I have been looking for, as well as some more subtle blends.  I love colour so very much, so this yarn just ticks all of my boxes. The reason I wanted to dye up some yarn in the first place was because I just couldn’t find the fresh colours that I craved as a knitter.

Selection of yarns I have dyed

It was also a bit of a thrill to see my yarn page on ravelry as I begin to enter the yarns that I have dyed into the Ravelry database, for people to search, discover, and (hopefully) stash:

Eskimimi Knits yarn page on Ravelry

So, I’d now like to declare the Eskimimi Knits yarn shop officially open. I’d appreciate any feedback, thoughts, etc that you might have.  What do you think of the yarn names, colour choices, etc?

It’s so exciting for me that I am in danger of overwhelming you all with pictures, so I’ll limit myself to one last one and not give into the temptation of posting pictures of every single skein of yarn.

Eskimimi Knits hand dyed yarns

I hope that you’ll be able to pop by the shop and have a look around.  And again, thanks to everyone for their encouragement, and thanks to everyone who pops by now and again to read this little blog of mine.

Over the last couple of days my kitchen has turned into an occasional dye studio whilst I don rubber gloves and play with yarn and colour – possibly my two favourite things, and now I get to combine them. I blame Kismet’s Companion who started me down the path to Kool Aid dyeing, which led to experiments with food dyes and citric acid and now on to professional dyes.

As well as my first experience with professional dyes, I now have my first experience with laceweight yarn:

Satsuma Lace yarn, dyed by Eskimimi

This solid-dyed 100g of fine lace-weight yarn was actually completed five days ago, but it has taken me that long to hand-wind it into a ball.  Ok, I haven’t been winding constantly all that time of course, but it seems like I have been winding it forever, and I breathed a sigh of long relief when I wound the last 200 yards or so this afternoon.  If it takes that long to wind into a ball, how long will it take to knit? I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

The other yarn I dyed was a fingering weight sock yarn of 75% wool and 25% nylon – my favourite hard-wearing fibre combination for soft yet strong socks.  This is a super-saturated, rich semi-solid range of greens.  It’s a vibrant, rich green and I absolutely love it.

Broccoli Sockoli, dyed by Eskimimi

I’m going to be dyeing a few more skeins for friends over the next few days, but I am also thinking of listing a few yarns on Etsy if I am able to part with them. Every time I look at the rich colours I think of all that I could knit with them, and my mind is alive with all of the colours and combinations, variations and techniques I want to try out on the next skein of yarn.

Of course, it is time-consuming, requires patience, time and concentration, but I realise now why people love hand-dyed yarn – there is just an extra liveliness in a hand-dyed skein that is hard to explain but easy to appreciate.

Hand-dyed

I have my first ever hand-dyed yarn.

I have bought, been given, used some gorgeous and varied yarns since I started knitting, but I have never before been lucky enough to own a skein of yarn that somebody has taken the time and effort to deliberate and select some beautiful colours for before applying them with care and skill, and that makes it extremely special.

'Rose' 4-ply yarn, hand-dyed by The Knitting Goddess

This 100g skein of 4-ply Blue-Faced Leicester sock yarn in the colourway ‘Rose’ did come beautifully twisted into a perfect hank, but I did what most excited knitters would with the prospect of new knitting experiences with a gorgeous loop of yarn – I untwisted it and wore it around my neck like a giant soft necklace with the same unreserved joy of a child getting a new train set for Christmas and then playing with the empty box.

The colours are exceptional – deep, slightly cool reds, with wisps of a duskier dark pink and a subtle green with hints of sage.  It is actually quite appropriately ‘Christmassy’ in colour, and though it is a sock yarn, it is so soft and the colours so well balanced that I think I want to wear it somewhere closer to my face, so I shall have to find an appropriate pattern for about 400m of 4ply wool to do justice to this yarn.

The artisan to thank for the dying of this yarn, The Knitting Goddess, has a shop which positively brims with hand-dyed yarn in every shade under the rainbow, as well as stocking various other knitterly treats and goodies, as well as patterns and a shop blog. If you are lucky enough to later find yourself in receipt of some of the Knitting Goddess’s gorgeous yarn, don’t pass up the chance to brag about it on the dedicated Ravelry group of fans and patrons.

Now, I shall almost certainly spend more time deliberating over seeking out the perfect than I will actually knitting this extremely special yarn, but I am going to try and decide by the time New Year comes around. Of course, if anyone has any flashes of inspiration, I am all ears.